When Sabrina asked me to write something for her blog, I was stumped as to what to write about because I am no expert on fitness or nutrition. The only thing I could think of to write about is why I drag my butt to class each day, what it is that motivates me to come 5 days a week. So here are my reasons in no particular order (except the first) Sabrina – what can I say except she motivates me, she inspires me to come each day. She genuinely cares about us and is incredibly dedicated to us. She sees something in us that we quite often don’t see ourselves. She knows when to push us hard and when to push even harder. She takes the time to come up with new circuits and classes to keep us from getting bored (something I have struggled with in the past). She simply is the best!

The other moms who also drag their butts to class – you guys keep me motivated, you are wonderful cheerleaders and I am very lucky to have such a great group of non-judgmental ladies to be sweating alongside with.

The results – you get results with these classes! I have lost almost 50lbs and over 20 inches in the last six months and that definitely motivates me to keep going.

Exercise clothes – what can I say, I love exercise clothes! Even when I wasn’t working out I still had a drawer full of them. The more I work out the more I get to buy, simple as that. In fact I quite often reward myself with new ones.

Lori and all the other co-op moms – When Chris is away working, the one hour I get at the class is usually the only one I get to myself that day. Just knowing that I have one child free (usually) hour gets me going each day.

A little sisterly competition – I have 2 sisters and growing up I was always the chubbiest, not anymore! I plan to keep it that way too!!

The way I feel after - Going to class sets me up for a great day! I have more energy, more patience, I am happier and I make better choices nutritionally for myself and my family. Sometimes I need to remind myself of this on the days that are harder to get to class.

A good role model – I feel like I am teaching/showing my boys the importance of being active and taking care of one’s self.

Those are the reasons I go every day. Those are the reasons I go even on days when the bed is calling my name. I go because I know I am doing something good for my body and every smart little choice I make will pay off in the end.

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I don’t know about your house, but at the McLean house we are having some issues getting out the door on time in the mornings….and I am only trying to get to Bootcamp, I can’t imagine what getting kids off to school would look like! Blame it on the holidays. Lazy mornings and late breakfasts where the norm over our holidays. My little muffin has always been a late morning eater. I find it challenging to get some nutrition into her before we dash out the door. One solution that worked for awhile was to let her eat her oatmeal on the drive. Mind you that only works if you have a tidy eater…. Elizabeth also likes to eat one thing for a week or two and then she moves on to the next thing. One week she will only eat apple oatmeal and the next week she only wants toast and peanut butter. Lately, oatmeal has lost its appeal and she is only content with licking the peanut butter off her toast. I was feeling a little frustrated and out of options for our dash out the door mornings.

So there we are, it’s 8:25 and we have to be out the door by 8:30 so my husband gets dropped off at work on time. Hubby and I are simultaneously trying to cram oatmeal, which I do confess on this particular morning to spiking it with Ovaltine to make it more appealing, into Elizabeth’s mouth and get her protesting body into some clothing. She is screaming, “I stay in my PJ’s ALL day!” The way I see it she is either going to leave the house hungry or in her PJ’s. Considering she is wearing more oatmeal then she has actually eaten…hungry it might just be. Sure a little hunger never hurt anyone, and once she gets to Bootcamp I know it’s a snack fest. But she is also a cranky mess until she has some carbs in her! By the time we get out the door I am border line hysterical. I’m racking my brain trying to figure out how to make these mornings go more smoothly. As I am sitting in the back next to Elizabeth, getting car sick I might add, trying to help her eat her oatmeal (that she screamed she wanted after we were pulling out of the driveway), it hit me. Muffins, breakfast muffins. She loves muffins so why not make them super healthy and full of protein and good fats? Yes!

I took one of my favourite muffin recipes from a diabetic cookbook and adapted it. The muffins are not as low in fat as ones I would make for adults. Growing little toddlers need some good fats in their diets. But if you like you can substitute some of the oil for unsweetened applesauce. I added cut up bananas, not mashed overripe ones, you need firm ones. Sorry, you’re going to have to find another recipe for those mushy dark brown bananas that are attracting flies to your fruit bowl! Old-fashioned oats add that stick to your ribs factor. Egg whites and low-fat buttermilk add the much needed hit of protein. I like to buy the little carton of pasteurized omega egg whites. We add them to scrambled eggs or in place of whole eggs to add a little extra protein. And finally, I added walnuts and raisins for a little texture. (Side note: I used spelt flour. It works quite well either way, spelt or regular. No need to make any adjustments.)

Dine and Dash Breakfast Muffins

This is the doubled recipe. I froze half for later. Why make the kitchen a mess twice? Makes 24

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. 2. In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients. 3. In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. 4. Chop bananas and fold them onto the dry. This will help keep the chunks from turning to mush when they bake. Add the raisins and walnuts. 5. Gently fold the wet into the dry. Mix only until combined. 6. Scoop into muffin tins. I use a ¼ cup ice cream scoop, or you can use a ¼ measuring cup. That seems to be the perfect amount. 7. Sprinkle each muffin with oats. 8. Bake for 20 minutes.

If you are like me you bake these at 8pm. So now do you wait for breakfast? Probably not…but do let them cool a few minutes before enjoying one with a glass of milk!

I have had the idea for this blog in my head for about three days now, so bare with me as it may go all over the place. I actually took the title from a lululemon bag, which is safe to say they are not the actual ones who came up with this saying, which concludes with..Success is determined by how you handle setbacks. The bag was sitting in my truck for the week staring me in the face as I seemed to be behind for everything and just felt like I was going no where fast. I managed to make my daughter cry when I reacted to her spilling her breakfast on the floor and having my new puppy lapping it up in a uncontrollable manner. This was after I had asked her at least three times to be careful and sit still while she ate her breakfast. So why was this such a big deal? Well I sent her to her room, waited for a minute to cool down, pulled my dog off and cleaned up the mess before I went in to see her. As I opened the door my little girl was crying so hard that she could barley catch her breath, in that instant I sat down took her into my arms and started to cry uncontrollably. I calmed her down, said I was sorry and continued to cry. I am sharing this with you because at this moment I was done, ready to shut down and crawl into a hole, call in sick and keep the kids home. Why? Because one of my biggest struggles is being patient and having a short temper. I know, you would not have guessed that I have actually had to go to counselling to help work on this very negative character trait. It has been over four years since I have felt this anxious feeling that made me react to my daughter this way. In that moment I knew I had to do something so I called my husband told him what happened and instead of saying it was my fault he told me to walk away from everything, and calm down. He reassured me that I was a great mom who perhaps has taken on a bit too much, instead of blaming yourself take the time to sit with her and eat. That's it? Yes, I had a moment, a set back, now how was I going to deal with it? In the past I would have just continued to let everything pile up and become negative and lash out, but I am a mom..first and for most and that is not acceptable. My goal for this week wake the girls up a bit early and have breakfast together, start the day off with a positive message. I will ask for a bit more help instead of resting it all on my shoulders and stop and think before I react. We will all have setbacks in life, try not to dwell on them, make a plan for improvement, seek support and move ahead.

It wasn't that long ago that I posted about what I wanted to see happen in the year to come. Well, this weekend has prompted me to add a fourth resolution to my list. This isn't a post about fitness or even about food, but bear with me, it is most certainly a post about wellness. This also isn't a personal advertisement and I won't be suggesting a business (for those of you who are familiar with my former business).

4) I will make sure that I am present in the documentation of my family. Not only will I take more pictures, but I will be in more pictures and I will hire a professional at least once a year to capture our entire family (me included).

I attended a funeral yesterday to celebrate the life of a wonderful woman and an amazing mother. It was a beautiful memorial to the woman that she was, the lives she'd touched, the fun she had had. At the end there was a slideshow of her. Her with her family, her children, her friends, doing everything she loved. And all of this got me thinking.

She was not a small person and it could have easily happened that she skirted away from pictures, took them instead of being present in them. But each and every picture had her there, smiling, laughing, loving, enjoying life.

Afterwards, it struck me that if something happend to me would my family have those same pictures to share and remember by? How many times have I run away when the camera came out, taken the pictures of the fun times or put off family photos until I was smaller. I probably have only a handful of pictures, per year with my kids and almost none of my husband and I. Some of what is taken I have deleted with shock and horror and the rest were never taken.

How would my 2 year old even remember who I was when she is older if there are very few pictures of me and only videos from my childhood. Even at 5 and 7, the boys memories would fade over time. I am not part of any of our family memories because I am always the one behind the camera... basically in print I do not exist and a lot of that is my own fault.

So that has to change. No matter how unflattering the picture might turn out, no matter how I am feeling about myself at that particular time.... my kids wouldn't care.

I have been holding on to these pictures and the story behind them since Christmas day, you know how it gets busy and you kinda get side-tracked. As my oldest daughter came home on the last day of school before her Christmas break and handed me a small scrap piece of paper with a list on it. She asked if we could get everything on the list for her to make a recipe she had copied out of a book in the library. So as I checked it over I saw we had most of the ingredients but we needed raspberries to complete the recipe. As we rushed around getting ready for Christmas she again reminded me to pick up raspberries so she could make this recipe for us. On Christmas morning she asked if she could make us all breakfast, of course I was excited by this request. So together, with the help of Madie, we went over the list and gathered everything we would need for the Berry Pile Up. Next she asked me for the paper that she gave to me with the list on it, crap..did I throw that away in the pre-Christmas tidy up? I casually looked around, under piles and thank goodness I found it. I handed it over to her and she turned over to the back of the paper. I asked her what she was doing and she showed me that she had actually drawn pictures of each step, just like in the book, pretty clever. As she washed and cut the strawberries and raspberries, Madie and I got out the clear glasses, honey, yogurt & spoons. At this point she showed me the order in which the ingredients were to go in to the cup. I asked if it would be ok for me to add some granola, I like a bit of crunch, and some melon that we had. So one layer at a time she put each ingredient into each of our cups...berries..vanilla yogurt..touch of honey..granola(in mine) and repeat. Simple yes and delicious! Let me tell you this is not what we would usually have for breakfast on Christmas but it meant the world to me that she wanted to prepare it for us and she explained that it was very healthy for our bodies to start a special day of family fun. Sometimes I forget how much we influence our children, but that morning I knew she is a mini version of me and I was so proud. Now I have to work on Madie who would rather have candy for breakfast!

As I sit down to write this blog I have so many different ideas in my head that I am having trouble getting started. Today was to be my first day back to the gym for the New Year but I ended up on the side of a mountain with my puppy working out in the great outdoors because it was +11. Seriously, January 4th and no snow and plus temperatures, so with that and the huge guilty feeling I had when I drove in and saw Rudy sitting on the deck waiting for me to return, I geared up with my Camel Pack on my back and Ipod in hand! No big deal, a change in plans right, happens to us all the time. Let me tell you that I had the most amazing workout that I have had in some time. I felt recharged and refocused, which is exactly what I needed after having a few detours in my overall plan for the New Year.

I was also extremely excited to see that they have built a look out at the top of the Sunset Trail! I have been running and working out up there for the past few years and have always had the goal to host some circuit classes up there and now I will make that happen. It is a beautiful spot with a nice hike up and as you can see, more than enough equipment to put on a challenging class.

I am so happy to be getting back to teaching classes next week, I have loved the time off with my family but I am ready to get back into my routine.

You might be wondering about Banana Chips.... either you have no idea what I am talking about or you are envisioning rock-hard, vaguely banana looking, pucks that you buy at the grocery store. Obviously I am not a huge fan of store-bought banana chips....lol

I've always had them made from home and I love them (so much so that I ate way too many when I was pregnant... so warning... a handful of chips equals more than a full banana... therefore a whole container equals way too many bananas!)

All you need is a bunch of bananas (ripe) and some lemons or lemon juice.

Fill a bowl with lemon juice and slice the bananas. The thickness is important.... uniform! The thicker they are the longer they take and the softer/chewier they will be. The thinner you make them the faster they will dry and there is more of a chance they will be harder.

After you have sliced them up, add them to the lemon juice and make sure that they are fully coated. This stops them from turning completely brown. This is also where the store bought ones have preservatives added, by making them yourself you get to skip that step.

Place them on your dehydrator. I did 6 bananas and filled up almost 2 layers, but I usually make sure I have more bananas and do 5 or 6 layers.

If you don't have a dehydrator you can still dry fruit. All you need is an oven, cookie sheets and parchment paper. Set your temperature and let the oven do the work.

Plug it in and turn it to 135-140 degrees. It will take between 8-12 hours depending on how thick the chips were cut. This batch was a little over 12 hours.

It is back to school tomorrow, that instantly means our week gets busier and I need to be more organized. So it was meal planning day in our house. But along with planning meals, I also try to plan out the week's baking and snacks. One or two baked items for treats in the boy's lunches and at least a couple ideas for easy-to-grab snacks.

This week I'll share a couple of those recipes/ideas. But my best advice, when it comes to healthy snacking, is to get a magnetic note pad and stick it to the fridge. Then keep a running list (because we know how kid taste's change!) of their favorite, healthy snacks. That way when you are shopping or trying to plan you have a quick, easy reference and can also change this up by looking back once you've built this list up over a few weeks.

Prep what you've bought and have it in the fridge so it's easy for you to grab or easy for the kids to get themselves. This is also a great time to try out a new idea... if it's good it stays on the list!

In the past year we as a family have come a long way. It all started last January when Lisa began Sabrina's mommy bootcamp class. I remember Lisa being very nervous for her first class she didn't know if she was going to be able to do it I reassured her and told her to just try and do her best. After her first class she was so happy and I was extremly proud of her and that was just the start of our journey! As a family we changed many aspects of our lives. We started eating healthier which included me having to stop drinking slurpee's (my main addiction) and pop. I started working out with Lisa, I even went to one of Sabrina's bootcamp classes and got my butt kicked. At this point I remember saying to Lisa that I can't believe you do this everyday! Over the last 12 months I have watched the weight drop off of Lisa and no matter where we went people would come up to Lisa and say how much of an inspiration she was to them. Lisa's response was always the same she couldn't have done it with out Sabrina and the support of all the mommies at bootcamp . I have been there to support her when the dreaded scale didnt move, I can remember the support that she got from the mom's at bootcamp which helped her get through these rough times, since she wouldn't always believe it when I told her. What I can't get over are the changes in Lisa from a year ago, she would have never run in public but 3 months ago she had gained the confidence to take part in the Run for the Cure and she is planning on participating in the Sun Run in April. I think my proudest moment was when Lisa had the courage to stand up in front of everyone at the Interior Childrens Expo "ICE" and told everyone her story, then her and Sabrina held up the amount of weight she had lost, in bar bell's. To all the husbands out there, the amount of work our ladies put in at this bootcamp is amazing! But its not just their journey, its all of ours. Just by dropping the slurpee's (my beer) to support my wife I have lost 25 pounds! (sorry ladies)